Encyclopedia

An assault on a network that floods it with so many requests that regular traffic is either slowed or completely interrupted. Unlike a virus or worm, which can cause severe damage to databases, a denial of service attack interrupts network service for some period.

Distributed Attack
A distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack can employ hundreds or even thousands of computers that have been previously infected. The computers act as a network of "zombies" working together to send out bogus messages, thereby creating huge volumes of phony traffic.

In February 2000, computers were activated that had been previously hacked and planted with illicit programs. The unending number of requests caused a denial of service at Yahoo, eBay, Amazon.com and other websites. (Article headline courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

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